Manchester clean air plans proposed

Haulage firms could fold if plans to charge lorries to enter Greater Manchester from 2021 go ahead, the Road Haulage Association has claimed.

Clean air zone proposals would see pre-Euro VI lorries hit with £100 per day penalties in a move the RHA described as punitive and anti-business.

The RHA’s Chief Executive, Richard Burnett, described the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) plans as yet another attack on haulage that ignored the part it’s playing to improve air quality. By 2021, the sector will have slashed its NOx emissions by 70% in less than a decade.

“The GMCA should be putting forward effective and well-thought-out plans to improve air quality instead of punishing hauliers with crippling charges that won’t achieve anything,” he said. “This is just another tax on the industry which would see many small businesses facing a battle to survive as they struggle to cope with the extra costs.”

He added that pricing out trucks could see a modal shift towards vans, leading to an increase in congestion and pollution in Greater Manchester.